14 July 2009

Good evening,

What can I say? I know I can live with this...

GOOGLING MAY IMPROVE brain function, scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, have found. In a study in which 24 healthy adults ages 55 to 76 performed Internet searches, those familiar with the Web showed increased brain activity in areas that control decision-making and complex reasoning, areas not stimulated when the subjects engaged in reading tasks. The brain activity registered two times higher in Web-savvy adults than in those with little Internet experience, suggesting that surfing the Net is a worthwhile exercise for aging minds. The study is to appear in a spring issue of The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

And I do NOT consider myself a part of the geriatric crowd... It's short coming but not yet!

And thank you Yann and Bernard and Thierry for your help with this next transcription. Obviously eight eyes are better than only these two.

It is the Acte de Naissance, Birth Registration for great-granduncle Jean François Albert Ferdinand July, dated 28 March 1863. But make note everybody, this has to be great-granduncle Ferdinand. I missed the name "Ferdinand" on my first go-round on my transcriptions. Both Yann and Thierry caught it. A lesson learned, if possible have someone else transcribe and review my work.

Another lesson - always expect the unexpected. In this case I found the Tables Décennales, the Ten-Year Tables, with the entry in 1863, number 400, July Jean, and what looks to be referencing the 28th of February 1863. This image was discovered at the Gironde Department Online Archive.

The problem is the date of the Acte de Naissance, Birth Registration, from the microfilm FHL[1647149], reads "L'an mil huit cente soixante-trois, le vingt huit Mars, à six heures du matin" and translated is 1863, 28 March, 6:00 am.
The notation in the Ten-Year Table appears to be dittoed from the word "févier", February, (see the insert above left) where as the date entered for the Registration definitely appears to read "Mars" or March. (See insert to the right, number 400.) But then the actual date of birth written in the body of the Registration entry as what appears to be "le vingt sept du courant".

The exact phrase is somewhat hard to read. If it did read "les vingt-sept du mois en cours" the translation would be "the twenty-seven of the current month", which of course means March and not February.

The date in this case is not a major issue if we are only talking about February or March. It could incite a different set of circumstances if the actual French is something very different... and those parts are yet to come.

In the year 1863, the 28th of March, at 6:00 o'clock in the morning, before Théophile Dubreuillh, Deputy Mayor of Bordeaux, delegated to serve as State Civil officer, Mrs Elise Brayat, midwife, residing in Bordeaux at 45 St. Louis Court presented a male child born at his father's home, the 27th of the current(?), at two hours in the afternoon, Mr. Jean Jacques Alfred July, 29 years old, employed, residing at Rue de Doidys(?), and Mrs Catherine Catherine Cora Merle, 23 years old, without profession, his wife, the child which was given the names Jean François Albert Ferdinand.

I have spent a number of hours over what appears to be a simple phrase, transcribed above "Approuvant la nature d'un mot nul". I cannot make head-nor-tail of this expression as it is written in the margin, followed by the signature of the midwife, Elise Brayat. Then it hit me that great-grandfather Jean Jacques Alfred's signature does not appear on the document. As the phrase in the margin is somewhat faded, and not too clear, I was wondering as to the circumstances that would necessitate the midwife, the witnesses and the Deputy Mayor to also write down their signatures in the margin. The same signatures also appear below the actual entry. My thought, which of course could be completely wrong, is that they are signing on behalf of the absent father, great-grandfather Jean Jacques Alfred. A possibility... My conjecture, only after I translated the following "In appearance on behalf of the natural parents." This translattion resulted "En apparence, au nom des parents naturels." And there is some semblance of similarity to that which is written... But then again can pigs fly?

And on that note, I shall close this posting, and offer it to you to see if you can figure out the written phrase.

In the year 1863, the 28th of March, at 6:00 o'clock in the morning, before Théophile Dubreuillh, Deputy Mayor of Bordeaux, delegated to serve as State Civil officer, Mrs Elise Brayat, midwife, residing in Bordeaux at 45 St. Louis Court presented a male child born at his father's home, the 27th of the current, at two hours in the afternoon, Mr. Jean Jacques Alfred July, 29 years old, employed, residing at Rue de Doidys(?), and Mrs Catherine Catherine Cora Merle, 23 years old, without profession, his wife, the child which was given the names Jean François Albert Ferdinand.

I am currently working on three Family Trees: Robertson, Groh and McAteer.

I am searching for the origins of my ggg-grandfather James Smith who passed away in Grenada in 1842. This is my Indenture Research Project. Presently the Records that I am working with are dated between 1799 and 1810.

Gadget

This content is not yet available over encrypted connections.

Please Note: All information and data... and work found on this blogsite and website is available for your use. Please do not be a "scab" and steal this information without acknowledgement of source. Also pleased be advised that there could be Copyright issues and legal yada...yadada...das... so be prewarned...